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Sunday, July 7, 2013

Kid-friendly cheese and vegemite scrolls

I don't know if I've ever mentioned if before but I am vegetarian (vegan at home), and Mr Fork is a raging carnivore. When I got pregnant, we were adamant that Ellie could decide what she wanted to eat. It wasn't going to be a drama for us anyway, although we cook in themes, we do cook separate meals, one with and one without meat.

Turns out, that for now at least, Ellie likes meat. I offered her tofu, and she wouldn't have a bar of it. Mr Fork offers her chicken and she gobbles it down. This may or may not have anything to do with daycare. The child care centre I eventually chose for Ellie has an on site chef who prepares meals for all the children daily. They put out a meal plan each week and it really is quite gourmet - tuna pasta, beef and bean burritos, exotic fruit and vegetables etc. Anyway, Ellie is given meat at daycare too which may have influenced her preferences. It's never been an issue for me being around people who eat meat, but I am a little off put when Ellie tries to share a chunk of chicken with me for example.

On the days that she isn't at child care, she is obviously with me. Day care days are such a rush that I like to put a bit more effort into her meals when I'm home. For that reason, Saturday usually means pancakes for breakfast in our house. I love pancakes, and since Ellison has swimming lessons on Saturday mornings, I think its a good energy boost for her as well.

After she has had her post swimming nap, we've started another food tradition: the cheese and Vegemite scroll. It sounds difficult, but I cheat. In fact it's so easy I'm embarrassed to call this a recipe.

Take a sheet of puff pastry, you know, the sort you buy in the frozen food section at the supermarket. Let it defrost on the bench while you assemble everything else.

Spread Vegemite on the sheet, to the edges. You don't want any empty scrolls.

Sprinkle cheese on top. It works better if you grate your own but feel free to use pre-shredded to save time too.

Roll into a log, keeping everything fairly tight (think, like a sushi roll).

Cut into slices. I like to make them about 1.5cm thick. Put them onto a tray lined with baking paper and put in a moderate oven for about 15-20 minutes.

I have also made adult versions of these for party snacks. The big hit seems to be the Mexican themed ones. Retried beans, salsa and cheese filling. Yum!

Share with me - what do you feed your children? Are weekend snacks any different from weekday snacks?